In August of this year, Instagram began competing directly with Snapchat stories. Keen has read several articles comparing the two, but they seem to focus a lot on their features or instructions on how to use them. At Keen, we’d rather embrace their difference instead of pitting them against each other. We’re interested in two things (a) How should you apply “stories” to your platform strategy and (b) How much of your audience will each reach?

INSTAGRAM STORIES

Before we begin, we need to first review some updates that occurred earlier this year. In June, Instagram initiated an algorithm which determined which photos are shown within a user’s newsfeed. Before this change, photos were viewed in chronological order, but now your photos are shown in terms of performance; top performing post are now only shown within your fan’s newsfeed.

For businesses, this should have greatly impacted your strategy since each photo no longer reached fans like they did prior to the update. Businesses needed to depend more on Instagram ads than organic reach for your weekly content. However, Instagram Stories rejuvenates hope! Now, your business has the opportunity to once again reach 100% of all of your fan-base within a 24-hour window. In reality, there’s no limit the number of stories you can create, so you can technically reach your fans longer than 24-Hours if you create a steady stream of stories.

A great organic strategy for your business is to begin creating content for “stories” and pull them into your profile so they can view the rest of your Instagram content. A great way to do this is by providing a call-to-action in your last snap to “check out the remainder of the story on our profile.” I’d like to caveat that this should not replace your paid strategy. Keen highly recommends leveraging Instagram Ads to target more relevant audiences and continue to grow your fan-base.

Instagram Story Example

SNAPCHAT STORIES

Obviously, Snapchat’s platform creates a unique and more personable way to communicate with your followers. Snapchat reaches 41% of all 18-34-year-olds in the United States on any given day and they just released some awesome targeting features (Snapchat Targeting – Click Here). Unlike Instagram, you don’t have a profile that displays your contents, so besides “snap stories”, all of your communication is one-on-one with your followers. You can leverage the same strategy with Snapchat Stories and reach 100% of your followers, and drive them to click the “chat” button with you to learn more.

The one-on-one communication on Snapchat really allows you to get creative with the platform and make it more of VIP outlet for your business. For an example, you can reward the first 10 people who “chat” with you with exclusive content or a percentage off their next purchase.

SnapChat Story Example

We hope this gives you some quick ideas on how to leverage both Snapchat and Instagram Stories. So, there you have it. We encourage you to embrace the differences in platforms and the opportunity to leverage these new features, instead of wasting your time arguing on which platform is better.